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Friday, August 15, 2014

Trip to Tranquebar

Its 15-Aug-2014, we got up at 3:00 AM and started from house at 4:20 AM. Its still dark and we reached Krishnagiri when sun could be seen and taken a break to get cash. By 9:00 AM we were in Salem. We stopped our car sideway and had breakfast what we packed from home. From there we kept using Google Navigation and went through various cities and then towns and later villages. A 450 KM drive turned out to be 550 KM and by evening 4:00 PM we reached Tranquebar (Tharangambadi). In between we filled petrol and had lunch what we packed from home. Once we reached there, we found out to be extremely small place with hardly few people around. We went in and got in bungalow on the beach resort. They and also Hotel tamil Nadu are full and those are the only place to stay. not even a single private hotel there. The person inside the resort told us to go to Karaikal where we will find plenty of option. Also I never knew that Karaikal is part of Pondicherry, so there is a checkpost for what you take in and what you bring out. It is again 10 KM drive and we found a hotel and the guy came running and told its Rs. 1500 per night and we saw from outside that its not even complete. Main gate in under progress. So we left it and went inside the city and we got a hotel. Runai sat inside the car and I went in to enquire. He told that there is room available. We checked in at 5:00 PM. We drove down from the hotel back to Tranquebar. Spend the evening in the beach and picking up shells. We had some very interesting fried stuff. Looks like vada but salty in taste and also usual ice cream and snacks. Before it is dark we packed off from there and bought dinner from a road side shop. Parked our car and ourself too and went to sleep.
Its 16-Aug-2014, we got up early morning and by 8:00 AM we are back to Tranquebar.
The main gate which was made by the Danish people for their colony back in 1620. Its a straight main road with 2 lane.
Gate
Road
Road
House
House
Next we went to the church
Church
We spend a good amount of time there and next we went to main church in the junction.
Church
Next we went to the fort and it is closed. So we went to bungalow on the beach for breakfast. Its buffet for Rs. 150 per head. We came out from the place at 10:15 AM and walked toward the Danish Fort which is just opposite to the resort.
bungalow on the beach
The ticket is Rs. 10 per head and Rs. 30 for camera. We went in and there is a museum with old artifacts. The place is very picturesque and can spend good amount of time there.
Danish Fort

Danish Fort

Danish Fort Inside

Danish Fort Inside Museum Door

Beach view form the Danish Fort
After spending some time there till afternoon, we returned back from there and headed toward Karaikal. From there we wanted to go and visit Velankanni which is just few km away. The road is good and usually empty. But once you are in Velankanni for the holy church, you have no where to go but to wait inside the car for hours to move just a inch. Nothing seems moving for hours due to traffic and it was hot outside. After spending an hour to move just a inch, we decided to go back and visit some other time. With some trouble, did a U-turn and back to karaikal. On our way got the pic of tsunami hit area memorial. We got our lunch from a small which is like home food and nothing fancy. Anyway back to hotel and had our lunch. Evening we didn't do much other than go and get dinner and relax inside the hotel.

Next day 17th-Aug-2014, we check-in the hotel at 8:00 AM and started our journey back to Banaglore. This time we came from a different route which looks lengthy but marked with state or national highway. We reached in the evening and called it a day.

Saturday, August 02, 2014

Trip to Bandipur, Mudumalai and Masinagudi

It is 01-Aug-2014, I am returning from office at 10:00 PM and was thinking too much of work is not good for health and wanted to go somewhere but don't know where. Suddenly Mudumalai struck my mind. Came back home and asked Runai and she told lets go. I googled a bit about direction and road condition. Everything looked fine. So we planned to start by next day 5 AM, but we could go to sleep only by 1 AM.
It is 02-Aug-2014 and as usual instead of getting up at 4:00 AM as planned earlier night, we got up by 6:30 AM. We made noodles for lunch and just one egg burger for breakfast, cleaned our car and got ourselves ready. We could start by 8:15 AM. Near KR Puram Railway station, we had puri and vada for breakfast and packed few extra vada for lunch. We filled tank in Old Madras Road Shell and head straight to Corporation Circle. Next Mysore Road and by the time we crossed Wonder La, it was already 10:00 AM. We reached Mysore by 12:30 PM. This is where we had to use our google map to navigate inside the city and take Bandipur road. At 1:15 PM, we stood in nearby road and had the egg burger and vada. Again we started and by 2 PM we reached Bandipur. We started driving slowly and our first encounter was deer and monkey eating together. Suddenly the monkey slapped that deer. Looks like it started eating monkey food.
Deer and Monkey

Next we saw bear far away.

Bear
 Its very easy to spot any animals because you will see many cars stopping and clicking pictures. Sometimes, those cars are standing for some other reasons and you land up wondering where is the animal.
Next we saw a group of deer running and crossing one side of the road to other. We stopped and taking picture and saw we are in middle of 100s of deer all around crossing road.

Deer Running
Deer Running

Next we saw an elephant far away and the only job it has is eating, which it was doing very happily.

Elephant

The next thing we know is that we are in Karnataka boarder and entered Tamil Nadu boarder. Tamil police stops every car and searches for 5 min. Anyway after that we entered Mudumalai forest. Basically it is same forest with different names for each state.
Next we saw peacock crossing road.
Peacock

Peacock

Peacock
Driving the hill with our car for first time, we reached the end of Mudumalai. Suddenly it looked crowded, with people all around, jeeps and shops. It was 3:00 PM, so thought to search for hotel for night stay. We say a Hotel Tamil Nadu in the junction. Went in and asked the security guard about the reception, but he told that it is closed. So enquired, if we can get any hotel nearby. He told that we can go to Masinagudi which is around 10 km away. We thought lets try there. But Oh My God! road is so narrow that it is width of 1 and 1/2 car and vehicles are from both direction. The worst is, if you want to come out of the road to side, it will sure hit the bottom of the car. So have to be very careful about moving out of the road. Anyway we reached Masinagudi and saw a big hotel but very crowded. We thought to try our luck in front, but within few minutes, we were out of the town. So took a U turn in a petrol bunk and decided to go back to Bandipur and stay in a nearby hotel and go for a safari ride next day early morning. It was 4:00 PM and wanted to cross the jungle by 5 and before it is dark and also it is raining. We came back the same way and swa an elephant family gazing. There was a board which says, if you are attacked by an elephant, jungle authority are not responsible for it. So we could take a picture while we are still moving and never stopped in front of it.
Elephant
Next we stopped in the safari ride junction in Bandipur. Runai sat inside the car and I went to enquire about the timing. Saw that they have to timing 6:00 - 9:00 AM and 4:00 - 6:00 PM and Rs. 200 per head for the safari ride. It was already 5:00, so we thought to go and check in some hotel nearby. Once we came out of the Bandipur jungle, we saw a jungle resort. Went and enquired and they told their rate is Rs. 2500 per head per day. We were like its too much for us. So went in another hotel which had a huge front area for parking and garden and kids play area. Looked like a travelers place, where people usually stay for night and leave next day morning. It had a restaurant too. Anyway got a room for Rs. 900. We took a local ride and went to nearby village. We thought to get some snacks and water, etc. While returning back, we found a souvenir shop just opposite to our hotel. We got a magnet tiger sticker and another sticker. Next we spent a good amount of time in the swing till it was dark. Next we went in our room and after dinner, we went to sleep at 8:00 PM.

Next day 03-Aug-2014, Runai got up at 3:00 AM. There were very large group outside the hotel. They also got up and getting ready to start. There were lot of noise, so we also had to get up. We freshened up and came out of our hotel by 5:30 AM. It was still dark and as we came out, we got stuck in traffic jam where cars and lorries are all shut off. Then we realized that jungle is closed from 9:00 PM to 6:00 AM everyday. We started at 6:00 AM and went straight to Safari ride center.
On our way, we saw a bison grazing near the road.
Bison

Got 2 tickets for us and the swaraj mazda bus started at 7:00 AM with 15 people. There were many professional photographers with us. The bus went right inside the jungle where there are no roads except few mud patches.
First we saw an elephant family gazing far away. Then few wild boars and monkeys with peacocks.
Monkey
Peacock
Next after spending half an hour to one side of the road and particularly near all watering places we crossed the road and went to other side. We saw a bison family gazing. We had to stop our vehicle and wait for them to move from the road, so that we can go forward. After 10 minutes, they started moving inside the jungle and it is so dense, that from the very first tree, you can not see anything beyond. We too started leaving the place and reached the center at 8:00 AM.


Bison
From there we came back to hotel and left the place at 9:00 AM. the next we know is that we are in Mysore and went in a South Indian style dhaba at 11:00 AM. Had nice food and started at 12:00 PM. Stopped in Kamat hotel at 3:00 PM for coffee and refreshment. Next we know is that we are home at 4:30 PM.